The Direct Aid Program (DAP) is a flexible, small grants program funded by the Australian Government through AusAID and managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The goal of DAP is to advance developmental objectives and address humanitarian hardship in developing countries. DAP is available on a not-for-profit basis to individuals, community groups and NGOs engaged in development activities in countries that are eligible for overseas development assistance. The program focuses on supporting small-scale development projects and activities that involve the beneficiaries in the identification, design and management of the projects.

The GTZ is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GTZ promotes complex reforms and change processes, often working under difficult conditions. Its corporate objective is to improve people’s living conditions on a sustainable basis. One of GTZ projects in Sri Lanka is Education for Social Cohesion. This project supports the education sector reform through intensive sector policy advising and training of management and specialist staff in the areas of peace and value education, second national languages, educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, psycho-social care and disaster risk management. The aim of the project is to facilitate an environment in which children and youth learn how to live together peacefully in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual country.

Switzerland invests about CHF 1.5 billion a year in combating poverty and promoting economic development in countries of the third world and Eastern Europe. Two federal offices coordinate international development cooperation on behalf of the Confederation: the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, SDC, and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, SECO.

All official development cooperation activities aim to improve living conditions for the world’s most disadvantaged people. The SDC focuses primarily on conflict transformation, social development, good governance, promoting economic structures and safeguarding natural resources. The SDC also strives to strengthen the abilities of its partner countries to take their own initiatives.

The SDC has been active in Sri Lanka since 2003 in various post-conflict and post-tsunami relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes in the Northern, Eastern and Southern parts of the Island. SDC in Sri Lanka supports an inclusive political solution, the promotion and protection of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and the alleviation of human suffering due to armed conflict and natural disasters through Humanitarian Aid and Development Cooperation.

SDC implements projects in partnership with the Government of Sri Lanka, International Non Governmental Organizations (INGOs) and local Non-Governmental Organizations(NGOs).